Letters to the editor: Feb. 19

Sidewalks: Shoveled off, plowed over, repeat

Been reading a lot of complaining on sidewalks not being shoveled.

One problem is if you shovel your walk, then 15 minutes later, here comes a city or state truck, which puts more of the salt/sand snow back on sidewalk. Go out and shovel the heavy stuff off again. Then, 15 minutes later, here comes another truck plowing it back on. So no one shovels their walks for this reason.

If you want to fine someone, fine the city or the state trucks. Or maybe you would quit complaining if you had to shovel this snow many times a day.

Thomas Marcinko

Frankfort

Thanks to plows, emergency workers in snow

We have received much snow from above this year. Without the snowplows, it would have been very difficult or impossible for many of us to travel to work or to the stores to get food and other items.

I would like to personally thank all of the people involved with keeping the roads clear of snow in Tippecanoe County, White County and Carroll County, since I travel frequently in those counties. I would especially like to thank the snowplow drivers for the late, early and long hours that they put in. But I would also like to thank all the other people involved with scheduling and loading the trucks and any other behind-the-scenes people who help to make this happen.

I would also like to thank the police and other emergency personnel who help people who have been involved in accidents due to the weather.

And finally, I would like to thank the tow truck drivers who get cars started or pull cars out of the snow banks.

Bob Durbin

Brookston

On the importance of free play in schools

I was pleased to read the Freeport Journal Standard supported my view, that increasing the words spoken to poverty infants might eventually lift them from poverty. Finding ways to accomplish this is not the only change we need.

Health and Human Services reported that its project, Head Start, produces little lasting advantage. This result mirrors the 1960s Perry Preschool Project where only certified, college trained instructors were used. So, please, just forget Head Start, stop blaming teachers or the system, and let's fix this.

According to the book, "Educating Hearts and Minds," by Catherine Lewis, in Japanese preschools in 1997, 50 percent of the time was spent in "free play" (no rules, no teacher interference). Only 1 percent of the day was spent on academic activities, the balance on art, singing, storytelling, class meetings and cleanup. Yet, in 2012, 15-year-old Japanese students tested at world high levels for reading and math.

While these results appear to be contradictive, Japanese preschools have the stated objectives of encouraging children to become close friends, to self-resolve differences, to recognize school as a desirable place to be, to use children's imaginations to develop questions and then to seek education to answer them. The American Sudbury Valley Schools successfully rely on "self-education" for all ages. There must be merit in this approach.

With America's racial diversity, and the bitterness it apparently breeds, I cannot think of a country more in need of a system that encourages children to become friends first, then successful fellow students later.